1. <br />Chinnok Salmon<br />Description: The Chinook salmon species is the largest Pacific salmon usually about 33-36 inches (83.82cm-91.44cm) in length and weighing about 30 pounds (13.6kg). Its head is conical with a rather blunt snout, greatly extended, narrowed and turned down at the tip in breeding males. The mouth of these males is greatly deformed with an enlarged lower jaw inabiling it to close its sharp toothed jaws. The colouring of the chinook salmon is an iridescent green to blue-green with gold flecking or sheen, silvery sides and a white belly. Breeding fish are an overall olive-brown to purple colour, males darker than females. <br />Eggs of chinook salmon<br />Biology: The chinook salmon migrates as much as 600-1200 miles (965-1931km) upriver between July and November. The female digs the redd by lying on her side and thrashing the tail up and down forming a small hole where she lays her 4242-13 619 eggs. She dies within a few days to 2 weeks. This species utilizes about 260 streams in British Columbia, fewer than do other species. The young in fresh water feed on terrestrial insects, Crustaceans and adults, mites, spiders and aphids. Young chinook in fresh water is preyed on by rainbow and cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, coho salmon smolts, squawfish, sculpins, kingfisher and other diving birds. <br />Migration: Salmon are born in freshwater; young salmon (smolts and fry) swim and drift through streams and rivers to reach the estuary or ocean. Juveniles migrate up- and downstream within streams and estuaries in response to changes in water condition. Salmon from the Pacific Northwest often migrate far north in the ocean to waters adjacent to Canada and Alaska to feed and grow. Adult salmon leave the ocean, enter fresh water, and migrate upstream to spawn, usually in the stream of their birth. <br />Life cycle: Spawning in streams that are larger and deeper than other salmon utilize, chinook salmon spawn from late summer to late fall, depending on the run. Fry and smolts usually stay in freshwater from 1 to 18 months before travelling downstream to estuaries, where they remain up to 189 days. Chinook salmon spend 1 to 8 years at sea before returning to natal streams to spawn, though the average is 3 to 4 years.<br />Role: Salmon carcasses, as well as their eggs, embryos, alevins, and fry, transport nutrients from the ocean to stream and lake ecosystems. Carcasses have been shown to enhance salmon growth and survival by contributing significant amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous compounds to streams. Additionally, terrestrial animals and aquatic and riparian plants uptake nutrients from salmon carcasses.<br />The female to spawn about 3000 - 15000 eggs in one spawn run because it is the same reason as turtles and frogs, so that it can increase the opportunity for the species to exist as many eggs will be eaten by their predators. <br />